Me Myself and I

[Alex01]

Im alex, and i have no friends. Im about to enter year 12 and i have lost the few "friends" i had. I put friends in quotation marks because they would treat me like rubbish. I suspect i may have social anxiety disorder because i struggle to interact with people for simple things like hold a conversation, and always feel awkward the thing is im a really social person and im really happy when doing things with friends/people but that dosent happen anymore. I have an eating problem and since having no mates im putting on the weight. And also im far from perfect, i have a habbit of being sarcastic all the time and making unfunny jokes i just try to fit in but i just make things worse and cant seem to inprove. A fast food job i hate, failing school, falling out with parents. What should i do about making friends and with the social anxiety, who can help me such as doctor ect. Thanks for your time.

[geoff]

hi Alex, I'm sorry for what's been going on, it must be pretty tough day by day for you, however you would be close to 18 years and if you are then you won't have any trouble going to the doctors yourself, perhaps when you have to fill out the form for being a new patient you could tell them that you are 18, sometimes a little white lie won't hurt you.
They may prescribe medication for you and if for any reason you're not quite 18 then take an uncle auntie who can get it for you.
They might suggest you talk to a psychologist but ask about the mental health plan, this entitles you to free 10 free visits.
The other option is to contact Reachout and/or Heasdspace they will be than happy to talk with you. Geoff.

[MsPurple]

Hi Alex and welcome to the forums.

Geoff has made a great suggestion about maybe seeing a psychologist. I completed year 12 in 2010 and I wasn't keen on seeing a psychologist then, so I can understand your reservation. Gosh it wasn't until my final year of uni that I realised I couldn't continue without getting help. I struggled alone for so long when I didn't need to. You may think that your anxiety isn't too bad now and that you may not need help, but even if this is so this means it is a critical point to go and get help so you can avoid it getting worse.

When I was in uni I went to a youth mental health service called headspace (www.headspace.org.au). They were really good with me. It is a low/no cost health care service. Maybe see if there is a local one near you. I am assuming you are over 16. If you don't want your parents to know then you can still see them without your parents knowledge. You will need to bring a medicare card (if you are on your parents medicare card you can now apply for your own now that you are over 16, I did at 16) and that is about it. You can ask your GP to refer you to them or like me just call up your local headspace and go from there (I was interviewed by intake and saw the GP and psych there). It was an environment I felt comfortable in as this was their specility. If you don't want to go into a centre they also offer help online. If this doesn't sound for you you can always go to your GP and get more option in your local area from there.

I think it is really good you are reaching out now. I wish I had gotten help sooner. I struggled for so long when I didn't need to.